


Hershey

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Children, Disturbing Imagery or Content, Drama, F/M, Family, Post Bartlett Administration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-22
Updated: 2010-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-15 23:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14800076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: She knew, and the past no longer had any power over her.





	Hershey

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: CJ/Danny, CJ/OMC, Danny/OFC; alternative universe, total fantasy (or is it?)

 

 

Spoilers through end of series; possible spoilers for \"Holding Hands on the Way Down\"

 

 

Introducing Hershey, a chocolate lab about 4 months old

 

 

Not mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul

 

 

Feedback and criticism always welcomed

 

 

 

 

This has been the hardest chapter I've ever attempted. After the first couple of paragraphs, it turns to dark and disturbing events, and please feel free to stop reading when I indicate that. I've been as non-explicit as possible, but what Caitlin does and how Paul reacts is upsetting. However, I felt I had to bring Caitlin's mysterious little events to a climax and close. After this chapter, there will be no more of them in the Reeves family.

 

 

 

 

The first few paragraphs do advance the story line for CJ and Paul, so please read them. I had thought about putting them in a separate chapter, but they really aren't long enough to merit a separate chapter.  


* * *

**June 22, 2018; Albion, CA; 11:15 AM PDT**

"Dad, I've got Pat's and my stuff in the utility room."

Derrick Reeves walked into Paul and CJ's bedroom and looked around. "Would you like me to take the sheets from your bed?"

Paul looked up from the hamper where he was sorting dirty clothes by color.

"No, they can stay for now. I'll take care of the wash. Why don't you start the grill; we can have hotdogs for lunch."

Paul told himself that he wasn't a suspicious man; he told himself that he believed in a loving God, not a petty one. Still, he had lost his first wife and his current wife had lost one husband and one "what might have been" man. You never knew; life could change in an instant. So, as had become his and CJ's custom, he would not change the sheets on the bed, the sheets on which they had last loved each other, until she returned from Berkeley this evening.

Going through the last batch of things from the hamper, Paul came across a pair of CJ's panties. The faint scent of her that came from the underwear teased at his nostrils and he pressed them to his face, thinking of her and how, this night, he would press his hand, then his mouth and finally his hardness into her warm, wet darkness. His body reacted to the thought and he laughed to himself, willing himself back to non-arousal. He was lucky, he told himself, not for the first time. Many men his age, men he counseled in his role as minister, men with whom he worked, men with whom he socialized, needed the help of modern pharmacology to react the way he did. He was lucky, he told himself, that he had a woman, a wife, that not only caused him to have these reactions but who was a willing and loving reliever of the need caused by those reactions. She had only been gone three days, Paul told himself, that's not so long.

CJ had driven down to Berkeley on Tuesday. The Chancellor had nominated her to fill a vacancy on the Academic Senate and her presence was required for a two day sub-committee conference Wednesday and Thursday. Later today, she would meet with Sam, Josh, Donna, and John Hoynes to critique Sam's (and the party's) education platform. Sometime after Aisling and Brian Stewart arrived and cleared customs, the three of them would come back to Albion.

Then Paul told himself that it had been seventy-six hours since he had held her and kissed her intimately and he wondered if he could get through the next ten or twelve.

Paul sensed that CJ had turned a corner, so to speak, in life over the past few months. For the past five years, since Danny's death, she had retreated from the Hollis Foundation and "Road to a Better World", the arena in which she had operated since the end of the Bartlet administration and the beginning of her life with the red-haired reporter who had waited eight years for her. Berkeley and the nascent multi-disciplinary program in Philanthropic Management had provided the perfect new situation for her, a way to challenge her mind and provide for her children without taking too much time and talent from the little ones (and, to be honest, from him). The reincarnated love between the two of them provided her with emotional security and physical satisfaction.

Now she was ready for more. No one recovers from the loss of a spouse at the same pace, but it was interesting that both he and CJ needed about four years, give or take a couple of months, to come back from the depths of grief. CJ knew that she could never give to Sam Seaborn the same degree of devotion she had given to Jed Bartlet. CJ also knew that she could never go back to the project she had conceived, birthed, and nurtured with Danny's love and involvement as surely as she had conceived, birthed, and nurtured Danny's children.

But CJ's special talents were not limited to the venues of politics and philanthropy; it was obvious to Paul that academia would be the next beneficiary of his wife's skills. He was secure in her love for him and for their blended family and he knew that she would not put him, their relationship, or the children in jeopardy. The lessons that she and Danny had taught each other, had learned together, had lasted beyond the marriage between the reporter and the press secretary. Paul's belief that the two of them would adjust to whatever the future held was grounded in the rock solid foundation of their love. Paul knew instinctively that the Academic Senate was only a first step. While he doubted that CJ aspired to the Board of Regents or the presidency of the university system, he could easily see her rising through the ranks, to senior administration, perhaps even to Chancellor. And if that was what she wanted, he would be there. And if he was wrong and she did someday want the Regents or the entire system, she would have his support.

" _Just as she had mine and I hers," Danny said._

" _In one sense it's a different life for him," Alicia said as she played with Danny's hair. "But I'm sure that if I had lived and wanted to do more with my art, especially with the kids grown, Paul would have been there for me as well."_

"Pat, you get the hotdogs and the condiments, I'll get the buns."

The sound of Derrick's voice and the activity in the kitchen brought Paul out of his wool-gathering. Picking up the pile of light-colored clothing, he entered the kitchen just as Dansha came running in from the deck.

"Papa! Caitlin cook Hershey!"

**WARNING – ALLUSIONS TO SOMETHING DARK AND DISTURBING. FEEL FREE TO SKIP THE REST OF THIS.**

**11:30 PM**

Derrick poured about two ounces of Aisling's liqueur into each of two brandy snifters. Then he shrugged his shoulders and divided the rest of the decanter's contents between the glasses. If any day were to call for generosity, today was it. And, anyway, the creator herself was on her way, hopefully past Navarro on route 128, with more liqueur and more pot-still whiskey.

Picking up the snifters, Derrick headed outside to the deck where his father sat staring into the darkness beneath the canopy of the forest trees.

Paul looked up as Derrick approached. He smiled slightly as he took the offered glass.

"You should go to bed, son. It's been a tiring day."

"I'll wait with you, Dad."

Paul heard the echoes of himself in Derrick's words, the quiet tone that announced it would brook no argument. A father always loved his children, but Paul was happy to find that he also liked Derrick, enjoyed having Derrick as an adult, a friend, in his life.

Derrick looked up over the trees to the bright moon.

"The road should be well-lit, Dad. They shouldn't have any trouble."

"She's an excellent driver. I just wish the mobile coverage was better," Paul replied. Then, sighing, he put down his glass and started to get up. "I better check on - ".

"Everyone's okay, Dad. I just made the rounds."

"Hershey?"

"Shallow but steady breathing, as the vet indicated he would do with the drugs. I changed the icepacks on the burns. Pat's curled up on the mattress beside him." In spite of everything, Derrick smiled at the memory of his brother's tearstained face lying next to the chocolate lab puppy that Derrick, with Paul and CJ's permission, had picked out at the shelter as a ninth birthday present for the boy.

Derrick anticipated his father's next question. "Caitlin and Dansha are in bed together. Caitlin seems to be a bit restless but she's okay, at least physically. And you saw that she was able to sit on the bench, so you didn't, well, you know. And Dansha's got Caitlin wrapped completely in her arms." Derrick decided not to tell his father than the younger girl had awoken and told him "She didn't mean to hurt Hershey; it's something from before."

"And you?" Paul asked, looking at Derrick's hands. He knew that his son's quick action, pulling the puppy from the grill and plunging the terrified animal in the pool, had prevented a much more serious outcome. "We should have taken you to the ER; should have gotten you some painkillers. I think we could have trusted Phil and Jennifer with the kids. And what happened."

"The pain's fading, Dad. And you know we have to keep this as quiet as possible, for Caitlin's sake." Derrick left unspoken what he and his father both knew – his little red-headed stepsister needed more help than the family could give, but that neither of them wanted to involve the authorities. Derrick also left unspoken the thought that he had felt the need to be as clear-headed as possible; his father was as upset with himself as he was with Caitlin and her actions and Derrick needed to be the grown up in charge. Very subtly, very tactfully, but very much the grown up in charge.

The two men sat in silence for about fifteen minutes and then they heard the approach of a car. The headlights of Derrick's convertible, which CJ had driven down to Berkeley, lit up the drive and in a few minutes, CJ, Aisling, and Brian were out of the car, the young Stewarts' jabbering about the weather delay that kept their flight from arriving on time interspersed with the normal greetings being exchanged. At one point, Derrick noticed CJ looking quizzically at his father and knew that she sensed Paul's unease.

It had been a long day, especially for the travelers, and the group moved inside with the intention of going to bed. As CJ led Brian up the stairs to the enclosed loft suite, Aisling lingered behind.

"I'm here now; I can help. We'll deal with all this tomorrow. Everything will be okay," she told Paul and Derrick.

Paul locked up the house and walked into the bedroom to find CJ waiting for him.

"Tell me," she softly commanded and, sitting down beside her, Paul obeyed.

CJ gasped as her husband told her what Caitlin had done. "This is more than we can handle, Paul. This, and the doll last summer; we need professional help. I guess it's something between coincidence and serendipity that her godmother is trained in psychiatry and just happens to be here. She could be a good resource for us."

" _It's neither," Danny told Alicia. "I'm sure that Aisling knew that Caitlin would need her help."_

"Actually, sweetheart, Aisling said something cryptic to me, something that almost implied she knew what happened, maybe even knew before it happened," Paul said as he kissed away a couple of tears on CJ's cheek.

"Danny always said that Aisling was kind of fey, that's the word he used. Apparently it kind of runs in the family on both sides, stronger on the MacDonald side than the Concannon."

"There's something else, CJ. I'm afraid I lost it." Paul took a deep gulp and continued.

"I've never hit a child out of anger. I've never spanked a child without first going through the entire discussion about what he or she had done was wrong and then why this particular act or incident required more than the discussion, the grounding or time out, and the monetary penalties. I've never spanked a child without knowing beforehand exactly what I was going to do. And I've never spanked a child in front of siblings.

"But this afternoon, when I saw what Caitlin was doing to Hershey, I lost it. I really have no memory of the time between when I saw her and when Derrick's urgent "Dad! Dad!" and I looked up to see Pat and Dansha staring at me in horror and Derrick standing in the pool holding the puppy in the water."

Then it was CJ's turn to comfort Paul. She understood why he was so upset with himself, how embarrassed he had to have been as he apologized to Caitlin and to the others. She knew how much it must have cost him to ask Derrick how many times his hand had hit Caitlin's rear end (five), and later, to ask his son to check to make sure that Caitlin's butt was not bruised, or worse.

Paul and CJ talked some more, trying to reassure each other that they were not to blame. Then, they slept fitfully in each other's arms, hoping that the morning might bring answers.

**June 24, 2018**

Aisling, Brian, and Caitlin waved as the others drove away from the house.

"Why don't I take Hershey for a nice walk?" Brian told Aisling.

"That would be good. And thank you," she replied, giving him a hug.

Aisling watched her husband as he and the dog scampered to the road. She had told Brian long before their engagement of her gifts and he had accepted them. He was glad, he told her, that she didn't inherit all of Sorcha's talents, glad that she couldn't conjure at will, couldn't choose what future events she could foresee. He would be there when her visions caused her stress. He only asked that she let him know when she was asking him to do, or not do, something because of what she saw.

So when Aisling told him that she needed to accept the invitation from UCLA for the fall term not only for her professional career but because "my cousin will need me", and that they needed to cross the Atlantic almost three months before the start of school, Brian told her "yes".

Aisling didn't foresee exactly what Caitlin would do, but Sorcha did. The two of them talked about what Aisling would need to do to help not only Caitlin but the others.

Yesterday and the day before, Aisling spent time with the entire family.

She used post-hypnotic suggestion (and something else, something Sorcha had taught her) to help Pat and Dansha. The two kids would never completely forget what Caitlin had tried to do to the puppy, but it wouldn't gnaw at either child. And neither Pat nor Dansha would ever mention the incident to anyone.

Aisling told Paul, CJ, and Derrick that Caitlin was a deeply disturbed child but that she could be helped. Aisling told them that she wanted to be the one to help her little cousin. Ideally, she needed to be alone with the girl. Was there a place, maybe at the winery, that she and Caitlin could use?

Paul suggested that Aisling, Caitlin, and Brian stay in Albion while the others took a trip up the coast into Oregon. Luke and Alex had asked them to come up to Agness for a couple of days.

So with the others on the road and Brian and a nicely healing Hershey off in the woods, Aisling turned to the little girl who needed her.

"Come. I'll make it all better."

**June 28, 2018**

She understood everything. It made sense now. And because she knew about the past, the past would no longer torture her, no longer cause her to do frightening things, no longer had any power over her.

She knew about the happy times in caves in what is now France, Iran, Peru, Ireland, and other places.

She knew about being exposed as an infant in Norway,

She knew about the Persians on Samothrace.

She knew about the fires in what is now Germany.

Aisling told her that this time she would be happy. Aisling told her that he was already here, about nine years longer than she had been here. They had already met, and he knew. And now, the next time they met, she would know too,

"But other than that, it might be better if, for the next ten years or so, you didn't have all this constantly floating around inside you. If you want, I can do that for you."

"For the next ten years, except for when I see him, I can just be  
Caitlin? Just be a happy little girl? But when the time is right, I'll know and he'll know? You can make that happen?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."


End file.
